And It Is Our Responsibility My Brethren...

During the last three months it has been my privilege to visit two of the missions of the Church, and I have been impressed with an important phase of the work in which we are engaged, the missionary work of the Church. ¶

You will recall that the Savior on calling his Apostles said to them: ¶

Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain. (John 15:16.) ¶

There has been no change in that, my brethren and sisters. "Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go . . . forth." There is no change in this truth. ¶

I read these lines the other night by a poet: ¶

. . . why abandon a belief Merely because it ceases to be true? Cling to it long enough, and not a doubt It will turn true again, for so it goes. Most of the change we think we see in life Is due to truths being in and out of favor. ¶

And so I say, fundamentally there has been no change in the teaching of the Savior to his disciples. As he met with them in Galilee after his resurrection, he said: ¶

All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. ¶

Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: ¶

Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. (Matt. 28:18-20.) ¶

There has been no change in that. It may have been in and out of favor, but fundamentally there has been no change. All power was given him, and he conferred it on his disciples; the same power is with us today. ¶

Brother Moyle referred to the teachings of Peter on the Day of Pentecost, and I quote only part of it: ¶

Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins. . . . (Acts 2:38.) ¶

These people were pricked in their hearts, and they wondered what they should do, and they cried with one accord, "Men and brethren, what shall we do?" (Ibid., v. 37.) They had been taught the divine mission of Jesus Christ, Jesus and him crucified; and the Holy Ghost rested upon them; the gift of tongues was with them; they understood each other and they understood the Apostle Peter, although there were assembled peoples of many nations, and Peter said to them, ¶

Repent, and be baptized every one of you . . . for the remission of [your] sins. . . . ¶

Then he went on to say, "For the promise is unto you." The promise of what? That the Holy Ghost would come to them if they rendered obedience! ¶

For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call. (Ibid., v. 39.) ¶

There has been no change in that, my brethren and sisters. And in this day the instructions are the same. ¶

Send forth the elders of my church unto the nations which are afar off; unto the islands of the sea; send forth unto foreign lands; call upon all nations, first upon the Gentiles, and then upon the Jews. (D. & C. 133:8.) ¶

The same teachings, a truth that may have been in and out of favor, but an eternal truth, just the same. So today we have in the Church the responsibility, and that responsibility is made more apparent as we think of the great missionary system of the Church — we have the responsibility of preaching the gospel, and an added obligation to that which was given the disciples of the Savior, that of preaching the restored gospel, the same gospel but reaffirmed in this day, because in the minds of men it was for a time in and out of favor, but the truth has not changed; it is eternal. ¶

Now, in harmony with that, in the very beginning of this work, the Prophet Joseph called missionaries who were sent to various parts of the United States and then later to Great Britain and other countries. The record of their work and conversions is impressive and ever will be an inspiration to those who read of it and who are engaged in preaching the gospel. ¶

Then there was a lull for a time; the Saints came west; and missionary work was seemingly at a standstill, but not for long. Within two years or less after the Saints had settled in these valleys, Elder John Taylor was sent to England as a missionary and then to France. In addition to the commission to preach the gospel, he was given the mission of seeking out some industry that could be brought to this country and established among our people in the west that would help them economically. It was through the efforts of Brother Taylor that the sugar industry was finally brought here to the West. That is a story of itself. ¶

But incident to this work that Brother Taylor performed, he baptized some very important people. You know, we are a little inclined to think that our efforts are seemingly of no avail. Perhaps some of our missionaries feel that way. I know I came home from my mission feeling that I had not accomplished much, that perhaps I had only baptized one or two. We never know the extent of the good we have done. ¶

In the labors of Brother Taylor he found men like Elias Morris, the father of Elder George Q. Morris who sits here on the stand, and President John R. Winder. He probably little realized what it would mean to the work of the Lord to bring men into the Church of the stature of Elias Morris, John R. Winder, and others. ¶

I was visiting a stake in California not long ago, and the wife of one of the presidents of the stakes told me this story. She labored under President Callis in the Southern States Mission, and she said Brother Callis related this incident to them as he visited the stake after he had been called to the Council of the Twelve. Brother Callis was converted over in Wales and was baptized as a small boy into the Church. As he was visiting a stake of Zion, he learned that an old man whom he had known in the mission field was ill. Brother Callis called on him. He found him cynical. Brother Callis tried to encourage him. The man seemed to be beyond encouragement. Then Brother Callis said, "John, do you not remember your missionary labors in Wales? Do you not remember the good you did in the mission field?" "Oh, I didn't do any good," he said. "Didn't you ever baptize anyone?" "No, not that I remember." Brother Callis said, "Are you sure?" "Oh," he said, "I baptized a little urchin that used to bother us in our meetings." Then Brother Callis said, "Brother John, do you know that I was that little urchin?" ¶

Think of the importance of that one baptism! Think of the great work of Brother Callis during his thirty years of service in the Southern States Mission and then his great work as one of the Apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ. ¶

I repeat again, my brethren and sisters, we never know the results of our work. We never know what we accomplish. Some of us never will live to see it, to sense it. But after all is said and done, we may sow, and we may water, but God gives the increase and that increase mounts little by little like a little stone cut out of the mountain without hands, and it rolls forth and ultimately will fill the earth. ¶

Now, the other thought, and then my time is up. It was my privilege to be down in Honolulu at the time President McKay and Sister McKay and Brother Murdock were there, one of the outstanding experiences of my life. As we met in meetings in Honolulu, in the Oahu Stake conference, Sunday, we had three assemblies. At one of them we had nearly four thousand people present. All nations, all people of the Polynesian Islands were represented: Hawaiians, Samoans, Maoris, Tahitians. We had a Samoan choir of a hundred people sing, beautifully, on Sunday morning and then Sunday afternoon an Hawaiian choir. I have never heard more impressive music. ¶

In that assembly were Chinese, Japanese, Filipinos, and I repeat again, people from all nations. ¶

Brethren and sisters, as I looked over that assembly I thought, here is an example of the gospel being preached to all nations. The gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ is ultimately to leaven the lump. The Lord promised that an angel should fly through the midst of heaven, preaching the everlasting gospel to every nation that dwells upon the earth, and then he said the end should come. He did not mean the end of peoples, he meant the end of wickedness, the end of unrighteousness. And I thought I saw reflected in that assembly the purposes of the Almighty being accomplished — no hatred, no animosities, no class prejudices, no racial hatreds, but all assembled under one great banner, of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and dedicated to one holy purpose! ¶

As you think of that with me, can you not see how ultimately peace will come to the world? And it will only come through the gospel of the Son of God, his great message of eternal truth, and it is our responsibility, my brethren and sisters, to proclaim it. ¶

As one visits the missions of the Church, he becomes impressed more than ever with the need of our fulfilling the purposes for which the Lord has placed us here, bearing witness of the gospel as it has been restored in this day, not preaching anything new, not changes, merely changes because men perchance have changed in their own minds, but the eternal truths being the same. ¶

May God help us to fulfil our obligation in this great work, I pray in the name of Jesus. Amen. ¶